Crown Cine theater is gone, but why the sign stands is a mystery

DANBURY - The letters look like something plucked out of 1970. It stands heads and shoulders above its neighbors.

Heck, it even has a fan or two on the Internet.
It is the Crown Cine sign on Newtown Road, which used to advertise what was playing at the

Crown Cine Theatre
on nearby Eagle Road.
The sign is still there even though the movie theater it advertised was reduced to rubble in the late 1990s and rebuilt as a Courtyard by
Marriott hotel
.
Then, a
First Union
bank was built at the front of the property at the intersection of Eagle and Newtown roads. A bank sign, roughly half the size of the 20-foot Crown Cine sign, was erected announcing First Union was around.
Still, the Crown Cine sign remained.
Then, in July 2003,
Wachovia Bank
took over the First Union building - the company slapped its name on the bank's sign.
Yet the Crown Cine sign remained.
What gives?
Theories are all over the place. Perhaps its owner is an eccentric type who loves movies. Perhaps it has been there so long no one notices anymore.
The sign, now looking oddly out of place along heavily developed Newtown Road, even receives a few mentions on CinemaTreasures.org and CinemaTour.com, Web sites devoted to movie theaters, living and dead.
Roger Katz, of Thomaston, often posts on the site. Documenting movie theaters, especially the old movie palaces, is a passion for Katz. He photographed the Crown Cine sign in 2002 and posted it on the Web site. He was surprised to hear it is still standing.
When move theaters are torn down, often nothing is left. That makes the Crown Cine sign unique, at least for cinema enthusiasts.
"Usually the sign is the first thing to go. They usually tear that down before the building," Katz said.
Katz was left scratching his head as to why the sign is still there.
"You've got me," he said.
According to the movie theater Web site, in addition to the three-screen Crown Cine on Eagle Road, there was a drive-in theater on Federal Road that fit nearly 500 cars. There was the

Capitol Theatre
on Elm Street, the majestic
Palace Theater
on Main Street, plus the Cinema Twin on Padanaram Road. Every theater has been closed or demolished.
The arrival of the
Sony Loews
multiplex off Federal Road was the last nail in the coffin for many of the city's small theaters, according to people who post on the Web site.
The Crown Cine sign is a bit of an anomaly, according to City Hall workers. Because there are several properties on Eagle and Newtown roads that nearly overlap each other, it wasn't easy to quickly determine who owns the sign.
Plus, the darn thing has been there for so long it has become invisible along the Newtown Road landscape. People just tend not to notice it anymore, officials said.

Sean Hearty
, director of the city's permit center, said no one has ever asked about the sign, save for a would-be restaurateur who related a story about trying to advertise on it.
"He said the guy wanted too much money," Hearty said.
Based on that conversation, Hearty guessed the sign still stands because it is probably the best placed sign on Newtown Road, which has become a hot commercial corridor.
"It's the biggest sign out there and you can't beat the location," Hearty said.
Turns out Hearty is on the money.
The man behind the sign is
Mel Powers
, a developer who owns dozens of commercial properties throughout the city.
Powers' roots in the city - and the sign - run deep.
In addition to the sign itself, Powers owns empty property next to the sign. That land eventually will be developed into commercial space as well. However, Powers didn't want to go into too much detail about future plans for the sign and the site because nothing has been finalized.
"We're going to use it for other things. It can be converted for other places that are going in," Powers said. "It's grandfathered because it has been there forever."
Powers said the sign's history dates back to 1968, when the movie theater opened.
The theater operated independently for about 15 years, Powers said, before it was sold to the Crown Cine movie chain, which eventually pulled out of the Danbury area.
"I think they were forced out by the
Sony theater
. They really ran a number on them," Powers said.
Taking it down and putting up another sign could open a can of worms with city reviewing agencies. Technically, the sign is already out of whack with city sign regulations, said
Wayne Skelly
, the city's zoning enforcement officer.
"It shouldn't be there anymore because
Crown theater
isn't there anymore," Skelly said. "The sign may be able to be there, but it shouldn't be advertising a use that isn't there."
However, Skelly said he was merely speaking from memory and the sign may have an extensive paperwork trail in City Hall.
"There would have to be some research involved here, but I think the sign was involved in some variances years ago," Skelly said. "We would have to dig them all out and check."